The Lifespan of a Shooting Star
by silverivy13
Summary: After a bad breakup, Lance makes a wish on a shooting star. -klance, shallura-


**A/N: Yes, Keith is kinda OOC but it'll make sense once you've read it. That is all, please enjoy. Set in a college AU.**

* * *

"I jus dun geddit!" Lance slurred, raising his drink high above his head as the beer sloshed around before slamming it onto the table, knocking nearly half of it onto the smooth wooden surface. "Whaddaya mean I'm too overbearing?! Thas jus how I show m'love!"

"We know, we know, you don't have to explain it to us," Pidge said, taking a sip from her own glass as she rolled her eyes. This had to be something around the tenth boyfriend he had broken up with now, and each time it ended with the five of them at a bar, watching as Lance got completely wasted.

"Ya could be more supportive," Lance said, glaring at the blue-haired girl angrily. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Shiro smiling kindly at him.

"I'm sure you can find someone better, Lance!" He said encouragingly. "Those guys are missing out."

"God, Shiro, why do you have to be straight?" Lance muttered.

"Even if I feel bad for you, keep your paws to yourself, Lance! He's mine!" Alura said, grabbing Shiro's hand.

"There's no one else's I'd rather be," Shiro murmured, leaning down to kiss Allura.

"'Ey! Stop flirting in fronna me!" Lance growled. "This is s'posed ta be 'bout me 'n y'all just keep bein' lovey-dovey and then I 'member-" he broke off as tears sprung to his eyes and started to trickle out.

"Okay, okay, I think you've had too much to drink," Hunk said, quickly grabbing the glass from the tan boy's hands. "You only get like this when you're completely smashed."

"I jus'…" Lance said, his voice trailing off as he kept crying. "I jus' thought he was the one this time…"

"You say that about every guy you date," Pidge replied, rolling her eyes when Allura shot her an angry glare.

"It's alright, Lance," she said supportively, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. "None of those guys deserved you anyway. I'm sure there's someone out there for you, you just have to keep looking! Don't give up!"

"Why can't ya be a guy," Lance said as he leaned into her. "If you were, I'd totally date the shit outta ya."

"Thanks?" Allura said questioningly, laughing at her friend's words. "Now come on, why don't we get that expensive wine you like? I'll treat you."

"Thanks…"

…

By the time the group left the bar, it was already past 2 AM and the brisk October air almost immediately sobered Lance up. He shivered as he followed the others into the nippy winter weather.

"Are you alright to get home on your own?" Shiro asked, his arm around Allura's shoulders. Even though he had protested, Allura had insisted on drinking to keep Lance company and now she was as wasted as Lance had been. As for Pidge and Hunk, the two had left before Lance could get too drunk, not wanting responsibility for him. Now, it was just the three of them, and even though Shiro wanted to help, he had to worry about his girlfriend first. "I have to take Allura back, but if you're not okay by yourself…"

"I'm fine," Lance replied, stretching his arms overhead. He turned towards the direction of his apartment and began walking down the empty street, offering a small wave over his shoulder as he said "Thanks for listening to all my bitching again."

Shiro sighed as a soft smile crossed his face before he turned and headed in the opposite direction back to the condo he shared with Allura.

He had only been walking for about 10 minutes, but already Lance was starting to feel depressed again. His friends had offered up a decent distraction for the few hours he had spent with them, but now that he was alone with his thoughts, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it.

"Maybe if I had done something differently," he muttered to himself. "If I hadn't insisted on celebrating our one month anniversary. Or if I hadn't doubted him when he was hanging out with all those girls. Or maybe if I had worked harder in bed and tried to please him more… I don't know why he'd say that it's because I'm a guy. Of course I'm a guy, he knew that when we started going out! It's not like I tried to hide it or anything! Just because I'm male doesn't mean there can't be a happy ending… right?" He winced at how bitter his voice sounded. "Now even I'm starting to doubt that. Great. Stupid straight guys and their stupid cheating and stupid girlfriends and…" He paused when he felt something wet on his cheeks and reached a hand up to see that he was crying again. He sighed angrily, shaking his head as he reminded himself that that guy wasn't worth crying over and that his friends were right and surely he'd find someone for him.

Lance paused for a moment, looking up at the night sky overhead. It was one of the rare nights when he could see thousands of stars glistening above, lighting up the sky like christmas lights. One in particular caught his eye and as he watched, it fell from it's spot and stretched across the sky in a shining streak of white.

"A shooting star, huh? Might as well make a wish," he muttered, still staring at the blazing white stain it left on the dark blanket above his head. "I wish… I wish I could fall in love with someone like you, Mr. Shooting Star. Someone bright and beautiful, someone who gives anyone who sees them hope and happiness, someone strong enough to support me and not crumble under my love. Someone shining. Even if it doesn't last that long, I want a love like that. I want one that makes all the other ones seem small and dull in comparison."

It took a few seconds before he realized what he said and he could feel his face heating up, even as a cold winter wind whipped past him. "I must be more drunk than I thought…" he muttered under his breath, rubbing his frigid hands together as he turned his gaze from the sky to the sidewalk and continued his walk home.

By the time he got there and hit his bed, the wish was merely a distant memory.

…

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Lance awoke to the sound of his alarm clock blaring in his ears. He groaned in pain as it shot needles through his skull. Of course he had one helluva hangover, what had he expected, really? He let it ring for a few more seconds before he stretched an arm out, feeling around for it until he slammed his hand onto something that made a soft grunting noise. He frowned in confusion as he felt underneath his hand to touch something soft and warm. Utterly confused, he sat up, first finding his alarm clock and chucking it at the wall to shut it off. Then he grabbed the blankets and lifted them up to look underneath and see-

He almost immediately slammed them back down again when he realized a pair of eyes had been staring sleepily back at him. It didn't take long for Lance to realize that he was naked and that whoever it was under the covers had been as well. Oh no, he thought frantically. No, no, no, this has never happened, I've never brought someone home while drunk before, we couldn't possibly have- His thoughts snapped out of focus when the blankets shifted and the person under them sat up, rubbing at their eyes blearily.

It was a man, with pale skin almost as white as snow. Lance blushed when he saw the boy wasn't even attempting to cover himself and somehow managed to rip his eyes away from the sensual curves of the boy's body and the pink nibs poking out from under his arm and- No, focus Lance! He told himself, mentally slapping his own face. He looked up at the man's face- and almost immediately let out an awkward-sounding shriek.

This was, quite possibly, the most pretty person he had ever seen. The boy's hair was a dark ebony black color, and even though it was sticking up in odd places from the bed, the style still looked positively beautiful on him. His features were refined and had an almost feminine sort of charm to them, lips pulling back to reveal pearly white teeth as the boy yawned before lifting his gaze to meet Lance's eyes. Lance swallowed thickly, the boy's violet eyes reminding him of a amethyst ring his mother used to own, shining and sparkling with what seemed to be stars inside the pupils. He was so taken aback that he didn't even hear what the boy said, instead only realizing he had spoke because his mouth had moved.

"Wh-what?" He asked, clearing his throat as he noticed how high-pitched his voice had sounded.

"I said good morning," the boy answered. Oh god, even his voice is sexy, Lance thought. Even if I was drunk out of my mind, good job me.

"O-Oh," he said quickly as he realized the boy must've been waiting for a response. "G-Good morning." Before the raven could say anything, Lance continued. "S-So I don't really remember last night, I was uh, really drunk but you- I-I mean did we- that is-"

"If you're talking about sex, then no, we didn't do anything," the boy cut him off, violet eyes flicking up and down to study Lance. "You're naked because you puked on your clothes so I undressed you. I assumed you wouldn't want to sleep in your own vomit."

"Oh!" Lance said, his face turning red at the boy's story. Forget about that "good job" earlier and remind me to never drink like that again, he told himself. "S-Sorry about that. Thanks for, y'know… doing that. And then, um, if I can ask… why are you in my house?"

"You said I could stay," the boy answered simply, turning away to pull the blankets tighter around his shoulders.

"I-I did? I mean- I did!" Lance decided quickly, not wanting to pass this chance up. "Ah, are you cold? Here, I'm sure I have some clothes that'll fit you…" his voice trailed off as he got up and started digging around through a heap of clothes on the floor near his bed. He settled on a pair of black sweatpants that had always been too big for him before tossing them at the boy, who caught them.

"Are you going to keep staring or can I have some privacy?" The boy asked and Lance immediately blushed, turning away quickly as he stammered out an apology. He could hear rustling on the bed, but as much as he wanted to look, he kept his eyes focused on the floor in front of him until he heard something that sounded like an acknowledgement of being clothed now. He stood and looked over his shoulder to see that the other boy was standing as well and Lance couldn't help but stare at the perfectly defined six-pack on the boy's chest and the sleek muscles on his arms and upper body.

"Might wanna shut that mouth before your chin locks," the boy said, snickering as he reached out and used his hand to press two fingers to Lance's chin and raise it up. Lance made a strange squeaking noise at this, to which the other boy laughed again. He pulled his hand away (too soon) and stuck it out in front of Lance. "I'm Keith," he said, smiling friendly at Lance. "It's nice to meet you."

"A-Ah, I'm Lance. Lance McClain- but everyone calls me Lance," he said quickly, reaching out to take the boy's hand and smiling at how soft it was.

"Well then Lance, I look forward to living with you," Keith said as the two shook hands.

That was how we started living together.

…

At first glance, Keith seemed perfectly normal. But after just a few days of living together, Lance quickly reached the conclusion that that couldn't be further from the truth. It was like the boy had never lived in a house before; he had no idea how to work any of the machines, not even a cell phone, he didn't know any manners, and if he went outside by himself, he'd get completely lost.

"What kind of young master are you?" Lance asked one day as he followed behind Keith on their way to the grocery store. "How do you not know what a washing machine is?"

"Why would someone think that there'd be a machine that washes clothes for you? Why wouldn't you just wash them yourself? It's not my fault that humanity is lazy," Keith answered, shrugging his shoulders. Lance frowned. This happened sometimes as well; Keith would talk about people like he wasn't one of them. Which was kind of weird, but also kind of cute (of course, Lance found a lot of the things Keith did to be cute).

"The question is how lazy can humanity get," Lance replied. "I'm still holding out for those teleporter things that'll take you wherever you want to go in seconds. Then I can sleep in until the last possible second before getting up."

"This is why the obesity level is rising," Keith said matter-of-factly as he rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Do I look fat to you?" Lance said, slightly offended. He almost ran into Keith when he realized the raven had stopped and was looking at him.

"Not at all," Keith answered before he turned around again and kept walking. Lance was glad he had because he could feel his face heating up at those words.

"A-Anyways, what do you want for dinner?" Lance asked, speeding up to latch himself onto Keith's arm, dragging the boy off the main road onto a side street that was a shortcut to the store.

"I don't really care what we have," the raven replied after thinking for a few moments. "I'm sure anything you cook will taste good."

"You can be so embarrassing sometimes, you know that?"

"How so?" Keith asked, utterly confused. Lance just rolled his eyes as they continued down the road.

"Lance?" A voice called out, and the two turned around to see Allura and Pidge walking down the road towards them. Allura waved and hurried over while Pidge quickly noticed the way Lance was holding onto Keith's arm before smirking as she eyed the taller boy.

"Moving on already?" She asked slyly, enjoying Lance's embarrassed reaction.

"N-No!" He cried, flustered. "We're just rooming together!"

"Wow, already at that stage, huh? To think you only broke up with that guy two weeks ago," Pidge said teasingly.

"Cut it out; you know it's not like that!"

"Alright Pidge, lay off him a little," Allura said, smiling as she rested a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. Pidge glanced at her for a moment before shrugging.

"Hey, we always have to keep him company when he breaks up, I deserve a chance to tease him a little," she said, but nodded in acknowledgement that she would lay off.

Meanwhile, Lance was already a bright shade of red, barely able to hear his friends' voices. He was thinking about him and Keith and how they looked like a couple. Did they? If Pidge and Allura thought so, then they must, right? But Keith was so far out of his league, there'd be no way for them to actually… but was it just him or had Keith looked a little red at the teasing too? No, no, surely Lance was just overthinking things again and-

"Um, Lance?" Keith's voice brought Lance back to reality and he nearly jumped when he realized all three of them were staring at him.

"Ah, sorry, what's up?" He said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

"We were just asking if you were going to introduce us," Allura said helpfully. Lance smiled at her gratefully before nodding.

"Of course, of course! Allura, Pidge, this is Keith. He's… my roommate," Lance decided finally, before gesturing to each of the girls in turn. "Keith, this smoking, polite, super-nice girl is Allura, and that bratty, mouthy one over there is Pidge."

"Not my fault you make it too easy," Pidge shot back, crossing her arms in irritation.

"Now, now," Allura said, laughing as she nodded at Keith. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said politely. Keith smiled at her and returned her greeting.

"I can't believe you'd actually want to room with this slob," Pidge said, pointing a finger at the tan boy next to her. "I've been in his room; it's disgusting."

"It is not!" Lance cried.

"No, it really is," Keith agreed, earning a furious glare from the other boy. He smirked as he continued. "Luckily you have someone to clean your pigsty now, huh?"

"You two are gonna get along great," Lance muttered, crossing his arms and pouting as he stalked away towards the grocery store.

"Maybe you two went a little too far?" Allura said worriedly as she watched the boy's retreating back.

"No," Keith answered before Pidge could say anything. "He's fine. Just a little pouty, I'm sure you both know how he gets. Well, I'd better catch up before he leaves me behind."

"Ah, Keith, wait!" Allura called after him. Keith paused and turned to look back at her. "Take care of him, okay?" Keith was quiet for a moment before he nodded and raced off after Lance.

"Oh my!" Allura said quietly, her grip on Pidge tightening.

"I know," Pidge agreed. "Looks like we don't have to worry about this one."

"It's such a shame Lance doesn't notice it," Allura said as the two girls resumed their walk down the road. "There's no way Keith could smile like that without liking Lance."

…

A few more weeks passed just like that and Lance could barely believe how easily Keith had settled into his life. The raven was a fast learned and by the end of their first month of living together, the boy had already mastered how to work pretty much everything. He still remembered when he came home from college one day to see that his apartment was almost sparkling with how clean it looked. It was probably the first time Lance had been able to see his floor in years. Keith had told him he wanted to do something for Lance so he had cleaned for him. Lance was so happy he had almost kissed him.

And then a few days later, Lance came home to find that Keith had cooked dinner for him. The omurice was a little too crunchy and the miso soup was kind of salty and the fish was a bit charred but it was the most delicious thing Lance had ever eaten before. It was also the first time anyone had ever cooked for him besides his mom, so maybe that had something to do with it too.

It had been just over a month since they had started living together and Lance had already realized at this point how completely head-over-heels he was for Keith. Not that it had been any secret, he had sort of noticed when they first met. But anyways, the two had gone out to make a trip to the grocery store again; they were out of rice. While there, Lance had also secretly bought a cake for them to share when they got home. Maybe it was too girly of him, but he wanted to celebrate a month of living together. They were on their way home when they had ran into him.

"...Lance," the man's voice had grated across Lance's ears as he quickly realized just who it was that was speaking to him. He turned around stiffly to see his ex standing there, a girl latched onto his arm. She was small, petite really, and cute, and had the right curves, and big eyes… so this was who he had been dumped for. At least she was cute. Like girls are supposed to be.

"What," he said coldly, doing his best to glare at the man in front of him.

"Is that your new man?" He asked, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "Wow, fags really move on quick don't they."

"I don't think you of all people have the right to call me that," Lance answered, but he could feel his voice wavering slightly.

"What, because we went out? That's because your hole was nice." The man shook his head in disbelief and pulled the girl on his arm closer to him. "It was tight and felt good and there was no way to get you knocked up. You were perfect for that. But it's not like gays ever have a future, I thought you knew that. Looks like you're more disgusting than I thought. Both of you."

Lance wanted to respond but his throat felt tight and his tongue was too big for his mouth. His ex's words stung at a wound that had just started scabbing over and were starting to rip it open again. They hurt. And even if he knew they were just to do that, to hurt him, he still hated how small it made him feel. How weak. But he didn't want to let his ex get away with insulting Keith, so he opened his mouth to say something and-

"You're the disgusting one."

Lance's head swiveled to stare at Keith in shock. The raven had the angriest look that he had ever seen on him before. Apparently his ex hadn't expected this either because he looked like he didn't really know how to respond.

"How can you just insult someone like that? Even if it was fooling around for you, Lance took you seriously. There's nothing wrong with loving someone who's the same gender; anyone would be lucky to have someone like him. A person who's able to say words of love to another and then just throw them away so easily is the truly disgusting one. To play with others feelings like they're a toy… you sicken me."

"Wha- Who are you to say that?! You think you can lecture me?!" The man took a step forward but Keith stopped him in his tracks with one furious glare.

"I can lecture you all I want," Keith hissed, walking forward until he was eye-to-eye with the man. "Because unlike you, I actually care for him. Now shut up before I have to make you."

It didn't take much more than that for the man to turn tail and flee, leaving his girlfriend racing after him and complaining about how unmanly he was. Lance was still frozen stiff, in complete shock at Keith's words. He had already pretty much forgotten what his ex had said, and now all he could think about was that Keith said he cared for him.

"Good riddance," Keith muttered, slapping his hands together like he was brushing off dust. "Shall we go?" He asked, turning to Lance. When the tan boy didn't respond, he frowned. "Lance?"

"Keith!" Lance said suddenly, stepping forward to grab the taller boy's arm. "I like you!"

"What? That's random," Keith said in confusion. "I like you too."

"No, not like that, I mean-" Lance squeezed his eyes shut before continuing. "I like you in the kind of way that means I want to kiss you and hug you a-and have sex with you! I like you!" When he didn't hear an answer, he opened one eye a crack- only to see the most flustered expression on Keith's face that he had ever seen. The boy's cheeks were as red as his jacket and the strangest smile/grimace was etched across his face.

"Y-You like me… like that?" He echoed hoarsely, to which Lance nodded. "I-I see."

"...Is it hopeless after all?" Lance muttered, letting go of Keith's arm as his cheeks began to burn with shame. He had thought that after what Keith had said, then he might have a chance but… maybe he was wrong. Maybe he had misinterpreted it and-

"I don't think so." Keith's quiet voice sent Lance's head shooting up to look at the taller boy. Keith was still blushing, but this time he was definitely smiling and it looked… almost shy. "I think… I like you too."

"...Say that again," Lance instructed.

"You-!"

"Please?" He begged, leaning his forehead on Keith's chest. "Just humor me."

"...I like you too," Keith said after a moment, wrapping his arms around Lance tightly. "I like you."

That was the first time Lance had ever cried from happiness.

…

Every day seemed like a dream from that point on. Lance had never realized how happy being in love cold make someone, and yet with every second he spent with Keith, he found himself falling deeper and deeper into something that he imagined was a lot like Heaven. At first, they were both sort of awkward around each other, unsure of what to say or do, still a bit shy even after living together for a good month and half. But it didn't take them long to get over it, and after that everyone could see how happy they were.

The next time the group had gone out for drinks, Lance had brought Keith along to meet Shiro and Hunk and to share the good news with them. Pidge and Allura hadn't actually seemed all that surprised by it, and Allura had even pulled him aside and congratulated him.

"He really does love you," she had said. "I could tell from the first day we met."

Lance had tried to play it off nonchalantly, but he knew that he must've looked pretty lovestruck, especially when Pidge started teasing him about how stupid he looked.

It was on a day in late December, a day before Christmas. Lance had dragged Keith out of the house and surprised him with a romantic candlelit dinner on one of the top floors of a skyrise in downtown LA. It was the romantic Christmas Eve dinner Lance had always dreamed of having with someone, and now it was really coming true.

They went for a walk after that in the park, admiring all of the brightly colored Christmas lights strung among the trees.

"I have something for you," Lance said awkwardly, stopping as he pulled out a small box from his pocket. Keith froze in surprise as Lance opened it to reveal a small golden hoop earring with a tiny diamond and the words 'My Dear' engraved on it. "I know we haven't known each other that long, and a ring would be kind of ridiculous, not to mention weird since two guys can't get married but… I still wanted to give you something. And since you have a piercing, I thought…" his voice trailed off into silence. He felt something wet fall on his face and he looked up to see that it was beginning to snow, the small white flakes dancing down from the sky and seeming to glow amid the Christmas lights. Keith's quiet mumble caught his attention and he looked back to the boy and his breath caught in his throat.

Keith was framed among two shining trees, their golden Christmas lights twinkling softly as a winter wind blew past them and whipped glowing golden snowflakes through the air that alighted on Keith's black hair and lashes, making it seem like he, himself was glowing as well. There were small tears in the corners of Keith's eyes and they twinkled in the faint light as a small smile, one that looked just so incredibly happy, spread across the boy's face.

"Thank you," he said quietly, reaching out to take the small earring and turn it over a few times in his hand before lifting it up to his ear and pushing the post through the hole. He fastened the back on and brushed his bangs back so Lance could see it. "Does it look good?"

"It looks beautiful," Lance breathed, taking a step forward to rest his hand on Keith's cheek. Keith raised his own to lace his fingers between the cracks in Lance's, holding it to his cheek as they closed the distance between them and kissed for the first time. Lance had never taken it this slow before, but he couldn't have asked for a more perfect time to kiss. He was glad he had waited because the way Keith's lips fit perfectly with his own, filling in the empty space with their soft warmth, was enough to make him feel like crying. It was warm, and gentle, and sweet, and just so right. It was perfect.

But then Keith's hand slid out of his own and the boy suddenly slumped forward; Lance could barely catch him before the raven collapsed.

"Keith?!" He cried worriedly, pressing his hand to the boy's forehead. "Oh God, you're burning up," he muttered. "Hold on, we'll go straight home."

Lance had thought it was just a cold that had been aggravated by the cold weather. He never had predicted what this was a sign of.

…

"What do you mean there's nothing wrong with him?!" Lance yelled into the phone. "You saw him, he can't even stand up on his own! Obviously something's seriously wrong!" He was quiet for a few seconds before he cried in frustration as he slammed his thumb onto the 'end call' button as hard as he could.

"They couldn't find anything either, huh," a small voice said from behind him and Lance spun around to face his boyfriend, plastering that fake smile he had learned to perfect recently onto his face.

"They just need to run a few more tests," he lied, taking a seat on the bed as he laced his fingers in Keith's.

"I've already told you they aren't going to find anything," Keith said quietly, staring at Lance with a pained look on his face. "There isn't anything physically wrong with me."

"That's obviously not true," Lance answered, looking at Keith and wincing. He hadn't realized a person could look so pale and gaunt, but somehow Keith managed to do it. He was still beautiful, but it was like he was wasting away. It was painful. "I'm sure someone can fix you."

"But there's nothing to fix-"

"There is!" Lance yelled angrily. His hands immediately flew to his mouth as he realized how angry he had sounded and he quickly lowered his voice as he said "I'm sorry. It's just… there has to be something they can do."

"...Lance, I went out yesterday." Lance's head spun around to stare at his boyfriend in shock and fury.

"You're not supposed to go outside! It makes you worse! What were you doing-"

"I wanted to get you this," Yui said, cutting him off before Lance could get any more angry. "Allura went with me, so I wasn't alone. But I had to do this." Keith reached under his pillow and pulled out a small black box, opening it to reveal a ring nearly identical to Keith's own, only this one was truly meant for the finger.

"This is…" Lance's voice trailed off as Keith took his hand and slid the small diamond ring on.

"It was expensive and I had to cut back on a lot of living expenses, but I wanted to give you this," Keith said. "So you have something to remember me by when I'm-"

"Don't say it!" Lance barked, tears welling in his eyes. "Don't say things like that, Keith. You'll be fine, you're not going to die from this stupid cold, I won't let you."

"Lance, it's not a cold," Keith said gently, placing his hand over Lance's. "I've just reached the end of my lifespan."

"Why do you always talk like that?! Like you're so detached from everyone, like this doesn't even affect you, like you're not even human-"

"That's because I'm not," Keith answered quietly. Lance raised his head to stare at Keith in confusion before hanging his head and sighing.

"Great. Now you're delusional-"

"Please, Lance, just listen to me?" Keith's voice sounded so desperate that Lance didn't have any choice but to numbly nod his head to give the boy permission to speak. "Remember three months ago? When you made a wish on a shooting star to find someone who'd love you? To get that perfect love you'd always been wanting? Well, as a star, one of our final duties when we fall is to grant the wish of the first person who wishes upon us. That's where the rumor came from, after all. I heard your wish, so I came to Earth to grant it. It was supposed to be just a quick fling, and I'd disappear before things actually came to this, but I'd leave you with wonderful, happy memories. I wasn't supposed to stay on Earth this long. I never meant to actually fall in love with you, but I did. And I couldn't tell you but I knew that my time was running out. I knew that I was going to die soon, but I didn't want to leave you. It's all because of my own selfishness that you're hurting now. I'm sorry."

"...This makes no sense," Lance said, shaking his head slightly. "You're… a star?! No way, that's impossible. Even if that's true, it still doesn't explain why you're dying!"

"That's because the last few pieces of my star are burning up in the atmosphere. I can only last as long as my star does. When it winks out of existence… so do I."

"But that's- I mean no, it's not possible! Stars don't just make people, I'm not that stupid! If you think you can pull one over on me to make this hurt less then-" Lance broke off as his eyes widened. Keith had started glowing.

The raven looked down at his arms to see that they were now shining golden, as was the rest of his body. When he raised his head, the look on his face made Lance want to cry. He looked so upset, so distraught, so lonely. And then Keith smiled at him and Lance couldn't really hold back anymore and as his tears fell, he could feel Keith embrace him as tight as the boy could. He hated how weak those arms felt.

"I'm sorry," Keith whispered just as something caught Lance's eye and he looked up to see that small golden orbs had begun to float into the air and out the open window behind them. With each small orb, Keith seemed to glow brighter and yet fainter. It was like the orbs were carrying parts of him away into the night sky.

"...You really are disappearing," Lance said hoarsely, his voice catching in his throat as he realized that Keith truly hadn't been lying.

"Yeah," Keith answered quietly. "At least it's pretty, right?"

"Idiot! I don't want some fancy light show, I want you! I want you to stay with me!" Lance cried, his tears falling freely now. "I don't want you to leave!"

"I don't want to either," Keith confessed. "Like I said, I love you. That's why I got you this." He lifted Lance's finger that held the golden ring on it to his lips and pressed a chaste kiss to them as he made eye contact with Lance. "I don't mind if you find someone else but… please, at least hold onto this ring."

"You dumbass! I'll never be able to love someone like you," Lance murmured, grabbing Keith's hands and squeezing them tightly until even those started slipping out of his grasp as orbs of light danced away from him. "You're the only one I want."

"Then we'll make a promise," Keith said, his voice sounding faint and far away. "That when I'm reborn, I'll come to find you. Even fate can't keep up separated, alright?"

"You swear?" Lance whispered, looking at Keith.

"I do," Keith said before reaching out and pressing his lips to Lance's one last time. The kiss was warmer than last time, but it was just as sweet and gentle, and as Lance opened his mouth to try to savor this for as long as it would last, it tasted of starlight.

"I love you," Lance whispered when Keith finally pulled away, looking into those beautiful violet eyes for the last time.

"Me too. I love you too," Keith said, smiling at Lance as a single teardrop slid down his cheek. "I wish I could've greeted the new year with you."

And then he was gone.

As the last golden orb began to float through the window, Lance grabbed it, ignoring the painful burning feeling as he shut it inside a tiny jar, along with the golden earring he had gotten Keith just a week before. A few moments later he could hear a bell ringing through the window and looked out into the night sky, realizing that it was now midnight and the new year had begun.

"I won't ever forget," Lance muttered, curling up onto his bed, still clinging to the tiny jar. He had never cried as hard in his life as he did that night. And when the faint streaks of sunlight of January 1st snuck into his room, they still hadn't stopped.

…

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Allura's voice crackled over the phone and Lance smiled, straightening up as he stretched. He had just finished carrying the last of his boxes into his new apartment and his back was feeling incredibly stiff.

"I'm fine," he said. "Stop worrying so much."

"You know why I'm being like this," she scolded. "Honestly, what do you think he would say if he saw how depressed you were?"

It was true. After he had lost Keith, Lance had gone down a bit of a dark spiral. It was only when his friends had reminded that Keith would've wanted him to be happy that he had fixed his life. It had taken a while, and Lance had never forgotten the way Keith had cried and said he wanted to be with him. But he hadn't forgotten his smile either, and that was the driving force behind nearly everything he did now. Because he knew that Keith wouldn't break their promise. He just had to be patient.

But that apartment had held just a few too many memories, so Lance had decided to move as soon as he finished college. Now, two years later, he was ready to settle into his new life in a small town, far, far away from the place where he couldn't go anywhere without remembering what he had lost.

"I'm fine now, Allura," he repeated into the phone. "I won't do anything stupid like that again. I'm gonna wait for him, just like he promised."

"...Alright," Allura said finally. "But if anything happens, you call me!"

"Okay, okay!" Lance said, laughing at the seriousness in her voice. "You really will make a good mom, Allura. I hope everything goes well with Shiro."

"Thanks," she said happily. "I hope so too."

The two said their farewells and Lance hung up the phone, smiling. He was glad that she was happy. Of all his friends, she deserved it the most. She was the only one who had believed him when he told his friends what had happened, and was probably the only reason he wasn't being sent to the loony bin now.

"Well, guess it's time to unpack some," Lance said with a sigh, moving over to one of the nearest boxes. "Let's start with this one," he muttered, quickly yanking off the packing top and opening it, fishing around until his hands clasped around the familiar warmth of the small jar and pulled it out. He was about to say something else when he froze.

The familiar golden light that was always glowing inside the jar was gone. All that remained was the golden earring, still in perfect condition from being preserved in the jar all this time.

"This can't be…" he whispered, feeling the familiar burning feeling of tears at the backs of his eyes. He blinked them back quickly, shaking his head. There was no way he was going to let himself cry over this again, not when he had been sure that back then he had emptied everything his tear ducts had in them. Surely there was a reason for this, Keith wouldn't have just disappeared for good, right? He was about to say something when he heard a loud knock coming from his front door. He could barely hear it through what felt like molasses but the voice cut through that with ease.

"Hello? Mr. McClain? I'm your new landlord, I'd like to talk to you about your contract."

Lance got to his feet slowly and made his way to the door, turning the handle as the door clicked open. He saw his landlord and blinked a few times in shock. The man had started to ramble on about when rent was due and the policy on it, but he broke off when he noticed that Lance had started crying.

"A-Are you alright?!" He said quickly, voice hinging on panic. "I'm so sorry if I've offended you, the rent surely isn't that high, please don't cry-"

"No, no, that's not it," Lance said, laughing as he reached up to wipe his tears away. "That's not it at all."

"...I'm sorry," his landlord said gently, his violet eyes turned to the floor. "I didn't mean to make you cry; no matter what you say, I must have done something."

"It's fine," Lance said, smiling softly. "You just looked like someone I once loved."


End file.
